Whether you have your kids all the time or you share custody, it’s important to make whatever time you have count. Our busy lives often leave little free time to connect with our children, and this is even truer for single parents who are filling multiple roles. But, as they say, it’s quality not quantity that really matters.

What is quality time anyway? Quality time involves engaging your children in one-on-one dialog. Going to the movies and sitting in the dark not talking is not quality time, but going out for a burger afterwards and talking about the movie is. It’s as simple as that. Every moment that you spend with your kids doesn’t have to be quality time (impractical and annoying for both you and your kids), but you should strive to have as much quality time as possible.

Engage your kids in any and every situation. You can be in the car on the way to school, watching football on a Saturday afternoon, making dinner together or walking through the mall and have great conversations.  But, great conversations are a two-way street, which means you have to do as much listening as you do talking. Even if you are talking about things you find to be frivolous, the goal is to keep communication open and comfortable (particularly challenging in the teenage years as you might imagine).
 

---

Add this page to your social bookmarks.